As part of the international initiative to develop a Justice Rapid Response (JRR) mechanism, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) as the Interim JRR Secretariat, in close cooperation with the Netherlands Forensic Institute and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI), is conducting a JRR Certification Workshop on 27-29 September 2010. The Course is conducted with financial support from the governments of Canada, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, and Switerland, and the support of the JRR Coordinating Group. The Workshop is being held at the Netherlands Forensic Institute.

The workshop is specifically designed for forensic experts and other experts already trained in international investigations to be certified for inclusion on the JRR Roster. The experts will learn how to apply their expertise to JRR situations and international criminal justice-related deployment, after which they can be added to the JRR roster, helping to expand the pool of expertise represented on the roster and to enhance the capacity of JRR to respond rapidly to investigation requests on alleged humanitarian law and human rights violations.

The workshop will be attended by 16 experts in various aspects of international criminal investigations from 5 countries (Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Uganda and the United Kingdom), the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). The workshop’s sessions will be led by a range of presenters including from NPWJ, the Government of Canada, University of Galway (Ireland), the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI). Observers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), INTERPOL, the Dutch Ministry of Justice and the Government of Uganda will also attend the workshop.

The Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is a multilateral stand-by facility to deploy rapidly criminal justice and related professionals, trained for international investigations and at the service of States and international institutions, with the aim to identify, collect and preserve especially the most perishable information about crimes under international law and massive human rights violations. It allows the international community to provide much needed support for compliance with and the effective enforcement of international criminal justice, thus helping to make justice an integral and constructive part of conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-building.

At the request of participating States, No Peace Without Justice has acted as the Interim JRR Secretariat since 2006, in order to facilitate cooperation of partners in the JRR mechanism and the coordination and implementation of the JRR mechanism.